Globalising our education

The Nationalist Party is trying hard not to let people decide with an open mind and heart the kind of relationship we should have with the European Union. It wants people to be mesmerised and star-struck by EU glitter instead of assessing soberly the impact of subordinating Malta's decision-making to EU institutions and binding our social and economic policies by all EU rules and regulations, even those unsuitable for us.

The prime minister and his party have been trying to dismiss the kind of bread-and-butter questions posed by Labour MP Noel Farrugia (PQ 38,143 to 38,148) on how EU membership obligations would raise the price of essential food and make life much more difficult for pensioners and middle and low income families. The PN is telling people that even if full membership hurts the present generation, we should go for it for the sake of future generations.

Labour leaders, officials, MPs and activists are also parents and love their children and are committed to give them a better future. The next Labour government will be setting up a fund of Lm1.5 million to open up our education system to the rest of the world.

We need an education system which manages to equip our young people with the advanced skills we need to attract foreign investment in manufacturing and services. We need an educational experience which prepares our young people to embrace global diversity and change. As the world continues to become a global village, even the most remote village schools in Malta and Gozo have to develop their global character if they are not to fail dismally in their mission.

Part of the fund would be spent on taking part in international surveys to help us set world benchmarks for our system to beat our in-built insularity and set targets for our children within the context of the skills they need to compete successfully with children in other countries competing with us for investment and markets.

Succeeding in tomorrow's world

Late last year the United Nations' Agency for Children - UNICEF - published a report on the education systems of the world's 24 richest countries. The results were based on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PIS) and the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS).

The surveys help determine the abilities of 15-year-olds in reading, math, technology and science and assess how knowledge in these areas builds the competence of youngsters to solve problems in the real world. Tlie surveys help establish the characteristics of effective schools and what kind of support students need to succeed at school.

Malta has never participated in the studies and so we do not know where our primary and secondary education system is compared to other countries. The Lm1.5 million education fund set up by the Labour government would enable us to take part in these surveys to ensure that our children and young people do not fall behind.

At the moment this issue is being trivialised by using the opening up of our education system to the European Union education programmes as yet another reason why we should take on all the obligations of full membership, even those that are harmful, like VAT on books, education, sports and culture. We do not need to take on all the obligations of EU membership to enable our young people to participate in EU education programmes.

The EU is determined not to isolate itself from the rest of the world. In Brussels last July the EU Commissioner for Education Viviane Reding expressed her commitment to globalise the EU education programmes by opening them to all the continents of the world. Critics of the MLP's partnership policy have had to change their attacks. It is now no longer possible for them to scare people by saying that partnership would close the doors for our young people to participate in these EU programmes. They are now saying that participation would have to be funded by Maltese taxpayers.

Part of the Lm1.5 million educational fund would be spent on EU education programmes. It is not true that these programmes are free for member states. Member states pay taxes to the EU to enable it to cover costs and finance programmes. Government has said that if Malta were to join the EU in 2004 we would have to pay an additional Lm73 million in taxes to the EU. Malta's participation in these EU education programmes come out of these membership dues. There no free lunches in the EU.

For the sake of our children

In March 2000 the EU Lisbon summit concluded that member states must change and open their education systems and catch up with countries like the US, Japan and Singapore which are all better prepared for the knowledge-based economy. The EU decided to work towards a European Educational Area that would be based on exchange and mobility within the EU and with the rest of the world.

EU education programmes like Erasmus and Tempus have already been opened to students and lecturers from the rest of the world. This globalising trend is set to accelerate. Our students and lecturers would be able to take an active part in these programmes if Malta opts for a partnership agreement with the EU.

Between 1996 and 1998 the Labour government worked hard to build partnerships between our education system and other educational institutions from different parts of the world. The Labour administration moved swiftly to assist the University to introduce the European Credit Transfer Scheme (ECTS) to enable our students to study at EU universities and have their credits recognised by the University of Malta. The Labour government encouraged the University to join global networks of universities like the Compostela group that brings together universities from all over the world to share initiatives and experiences.

Contacts were established with world class institutions like the London Institute of Education to embark on joint projects to combat illiteracy and failure in our schools. Steps were taken to work together with Edexcel, the international examination centre of the University of London, to improve the quality of tlle Matsec Board exams. Agreements were signed with Rowan University of New Jersey to introduee the "Let me learn" project in local primary schools to develop a variety of teaching methods to reach children who learn differently.

The Labour Party is already building new contacts so that once in government it will take further steps to globalise our education system and work in partnership with the EU, the OECD, UNESCO, the Commonwealth and education institutions in the US, Canada, Singapore, Australia, Japan, China, Russia and in Mediterranean countries. The MLP is committed to globalising our education system as this is indispensable if we are to survive and thrive in the 21st century.